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Forge, Dec 2000, 24.95, 334 pp.
ISBN: 0312865643
Chicago police officer Suze Figueroa and her partner Norm Bennis know how ugly the city streets can become. The duo deals with crime, mostly petty in nature, on a daily basis. However, Suze and Norm soon find themselves involved in an even uglier scenario when much of the Second City?s detective force call in sick with food poisoning following the retirement dinner of the chief detective.
...Death of A Thousand Cuts
Forge, June 2004, 24.95, 336 pp.
ISBN 0765303450
It has been fifteen years The Hawthorne House School for the Treatment of Autistic Children closed its doors but this weekend the founders, doctors, counselors and some former patients are having a reunion. Dr. Jay Schermerthorn, the designer of the protocols, is looked upon as an expert in his field since he had such good results with his treatment. He is now writing books and is going to be the...Hard Case
'Hard Case' by Barbara D'Amato pleaureably reads like a tribute to 'Ordeal by Innocence' by Agatha Christie. Both feature a murder mystery where the primary victim could only have been killed by a select number of people, and the people in both stories must face the fact that there is a murderer among them - someone they all know and trust - but who ? They must all face the same scrutiny, and unless something is done to stop the killer, more dead bodies ...Hard Christmas
Barbara D'Amato's Cat Marsala series takes a festive turn when our favourite freelance journalist decides it's high time she do a more upbeat and pleasant piece. Cat decides that doing an essay on Christmas tree farming and marketing has all the makings of a fun project, and heads to the DeGraaf family farm in Holland, Illinois.
The DeGraafs have kindly allowed Cat to stay with them while she profiles what goes on during harvesting time on a Christma...

D'Amato booklist

Hard Evidence
Chicago journalist Cat Marsala buys a nice bone for her friend's Dalmation at an upscale supermarket. When she gets home her significant other, Dr. Sam Davidson, takes one look at the bone and tells her that it is from a human. So where is the rest of the person - in the ground beef? How do you recall all of the meat purchased from the supermarket without destroying the store's reputation? Whose bone is it anyway? Barbara D'Amato has written a fascinatin...Hard Luck
Perhaps it is Cat Marsala's hard luck that she happens to be mere feet away from Jack Sligh - when he lands on the pavement next to her after having fallen from a significant height. Jack's death opens up an avenue of investigation for Cat, as she was supposed to have an appointment with him that very day, researching for a story about the Illinois State Lottery.
'Hard Luck' is a well-researched tale about what some may consider a rather boring topic...Hard Road
Hard Road
Scribner, Aug 2001, 24.00, 304 pp.
ISBN: 0743200950
In Chicago's Grant Park an OZ festival is being held to celebrate the centennial publication of The Wizard of Oz. Frank Baum wrote the book while living in the area and the city wants to honor their celebrity. It promises to be a great event with high tech displays of Oz locales, Oz rides, and food that could have come straight from the fantasy land. Free lance reporter Cat Marsal...Hard Tack
Freelance journalist Cat Marsala is all gung-ho about her next assignment - a piece about moneyed people and how they live - until Cat discovers she'll be on water. Cat hates water and cannot swim.
Bravely forcing her boat and water phobias aside, Cat boards 'Easy Girl', a 60-foot yacht owned by millionaire furniture manufacturer Will Honeywell and his wife, Belinda. After all, Lake Michigan is a far cry from the Atlantic Ocean.
Along for the Fourt...Hard Women
Freelance news journalist Cat Marsala trades a hot meal for an inside scoop on prostitution in the city of Chicago, when a working girl she interviewed is murdered. The courtroom is full of sex workers when Cat shows up looking to interview subjects for a news story. Cat is dead tired but not as dead as Saundra love whose face is all over the news. Cat feels guilty even if the rest of the world doesn't care about a dead hooker.
Cat knows the rule...Killer.App
Chicago police officer Susannah ('Suze') Figueroa and her partner Norm Bennis are caught up in a nefarious plot devised by the head of a large computer company - a power-hungry man who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Not even willful murder.
It seems that SJR DataSystems has back-door entry into numerous computer networks with overwrite capabilities, including many of Chicago's hospitals and the Chicago Police Dept. as well.
But the hea...

Barbara D'Amato list of books

White Male Infant
Forge, Jun 2002, 24.95, 336 pp.
ISBN: 0765300249
Surgeon Dooley McSweeney and his wife Claudia worries about the health of their adopted son as they fear he has leukemia. Thankfully, the infection turns out to be mononucleosis. However, they also learn that Teddy's bone sample displays evidence of the antibiotic tetracycline, a drug the McSweeney never provided to their son nor could the dirt-poor Russian orphanage be able to have obtained it. ...